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PlayStation 4 3.50 System Update Arrives Tomorrow

Sony has just announced on their official blog that the latest software update, version 3.50 will be unleashed tomorrow. This includes a host of new social features and the ability to stream PlayStation 4 games to a compatible PC or Mac. Here is a detailed run-down of the changes according to Sony:

New Social Features

Appear Offline

On your Profile tab, we’ve added a new option called ‘Online Status.’ From here, you can choose to ‘Appear Offline.’ This could be useful if you want to play games or watch movies without your friends knowing you’re online. You can designate if you would like to appear offline when you log-in or at any time from your Profile, or by holding down the PS Button on DualShock 4 to bring up the Quick Menu.

Friend Online Notification

Now you can choose to get notified when your friends come online. To receive notifications, select a player on your friends list, press Options, and select ‘Notify When Online.’

On the Events tab, we’re adding the ability to schedule gameplay sessions with your friends. Just select ‘Create Event,’ and you’ll be able to make an invitation for an upcoming gameplay session. Choose the day, time, game, and send it off to your friends. When your event starts, users who registered will automatically be added to a party so you can start playing right away.

You can also share an event to a group, or a community that you’re a member of. Once shared, the event will be sent as a message, or posted to a community wall, and members can register from there

Play Together

This feature allows all members of a Party to see what each person is playing so that you can easily join a friend’s game, or start a new game together.

Remote Play (PC/Mac)

With this update, we’re expanding PS4’s Remote Play capabilities to work with Windows PC and Mac.
Remote Play on PC / Mac is compatible with the following system software:

Windows 8.1

Windows 10 or later

OS X 10.10

OS X 10.11

You’ll be able to select from the following resolution and frame rate options, depending on your Internet bandwidth.

Resolution options: 360p, 540p, 720p (Default: 540p)

Frame rate : Standard (30fps), High (60fps) (Default: Standard)

You can use one DualShock 4 as the controller for Remote Play, which needs to be connected to your PC / Mac via a USB cable.

After the system software update launches, you’ll be able to download the Remote Play Installer here.

Along with PS4’s 3.50 system software update, PlayStation App version 3.50 is out tomorrow as well. The main new features of this update are as follows:

User Scheduled Event

Users can schedule gameplay sessions with friends

Dailymotion has been added to Live from PlayStation

Other players’ shared activities appear in your activities

That’s a look at some of the big additions in this update. Of course, there are lots of other refinements and improvements to the system software overall.

As you can see, this is a major system update and I’m most interested by the PS4’s Remote Play functionality. Sadly, the maximum bandwidth is only 720P but this could change in the future.

What do you think about the 3.50 system software update’s new features?